Alice: Bits of Hatter
by Ally Charlotte Piper
Summary: "Do you know why they call me Hatter?" Her eyes flew to my head. "Because you wear a hat?" Touche. "No." In perhaps one of Syfy's best works, there is a character who is beloved. Follow Hatter and his quest to get Alice through the Looking Glass.
1. Chapter 1

Alice: Bits of Hatter

_A/N: This is a first attempt towards recording all the happenings in Syfy's 2009 miniseries Alice from the perspective of Hatter. It's also my first fanfic ever (eep) so be gentle dearies, but honesty is appreciated muchly, and reviews are better than pancakes. Enjoy, or hate, or glare at in a disgusted manner, whatever. Cheersio pets._

_-ACP_

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><p>Chapter 1:<p>

I _had _been listening to music. The bidding and dirty work in the shop was being taken care of by my good friend Dormouse, who was getting ready just now to introduce some brand new Tea to my faithful customers. I was home-free and clear, having given myself a bit of time to turn from my busy work to a bit of pleasure listening. Was that too much to ask?

Apparently, as Ratty, one of my _least_ favourtite informants, ran in the moment one of my favourite songs started. To top it off, he was babbling off his head about some escapee Oyster, which was bad enough as is if he'd brought it into my shop. But that wasn't even the best part. This Oyster's name, was Alice.

I sat up in my chair. "_The_ Alice?" Ratty nodded fervidly and I thought for a moment. The Alice could be a very valuable player in the upcoming events. "She's looking for a person, Hatter. Hopin you can help." Ratty hinted. Interest piqued and I was decided. "Bring her in." He scurried off back into the Teashop and I turned away in my chair, hanging my headphones over the back and contemplating. Dodo would want to know about this. If The Alice was here, this could mean a breakthrough for the resistance. On the other hand, my no over-involvement policy forbade taking sides. If I sided with one, the resistance or the Hearts, fully, the other would quash me like a very squishy, very small bug. Long as I was neutral little Teashop Hatter, they left me to my lonesome. But on the other other hand, there was compensation to be had for supplying the resistance with such a delight as a legendary warrior. My mind was still turning when they walked up my garden pathway, but that was no reason to be rude. Whatever I decided, it could never hurt to have a buttered up Alice on my side. "Would you like a cup of tea?" I asked casually, not turning back to see them, still half-lost in thought.

After a short silence in which one of them shifted from foot to foot, a woman said, "No, thank you." I nodded to myself, trying to think how to go on. But the woman's voice interrupted my thoughts. "Who are you?" she asked, a slight waver in her otherwise almost convincingly fearless voice. It caught my attention, and I turned to face them. The woman was a bit on the shorter side, and fairly pretty, with blue-green eyes and very black hair. She also appeared to be sopping wet. It was a very nice look. "A friend." I answered, surprised. "I hope." I added as an afterthought, " I run the teashop." The woman was distracted by Ratty pulling a grungy red bandana off her Oyster brand. She was lucky it was on her arm. Easily concealable. "See?" he said eagerly, and the woman yanked her arm away. Jumpy.

I considered him for a moment and then decided to trust that he was telling the truth, for now. It was, after all, hard to fabricate the glow of an Oyster brand. But this woman seemed pretty average for an Oyster, if a little emboldened by her escape. "How did you break out of the Scarab?" I asked her, turning back to my desk. "What, the beetle thing?" she asked, slightly defensive. I made a noise of confirmation and she hesitated for a moment, waiting for me to turn all the way back around to face her before saying, "I used my hairpin and-''

"Fell." I finished for her. Yeah, she did look like she'd had a good dip in the Pool of Tears. She gestured to herself, saying, "As you can see, I'm drenched." I certainly could see that. Her dark hair was clumped and stringy around her pale face, which was a look that worked quite well for her, but it was her ensemble that attracted my eyes most. Her light blue dress fit her well enough on its own, but now seemed to be a second skin, coupled with a pair of clingy bloodred tights that hugged her legs, showing off their fantastic shape. All of it stuck to her in a very appealing fashion.

Ah, but she was speaking again. "This place…where- what is it?" she asked, almost impatient. As though the differences between our worlds aggravated her. Probably did. Poor lost thing. "Oh. Wonderland." I answered helpfully. Her eyebrow shot up, and she said, almost derisively, "That's a story in a kid's book." Her tone hit a sort of nerve. "Does this look like a kid's story to you?" I asked her, no change in my expression. She glanced around for a moment before replying. "No."

"It's changed a lot since then." I said, pushing off from my spot on the desk to walk across my lovely grass with a magnifying glass. The derisive tone was back, but slightly toned down. "What, so you're saying it was _real_?" I smiled quickly and explained. "You Oysters don't know how to find us, so- excuse me-'' Here I lifted her arm and examined her brand with the glass. "You tell yourselves that we don't exist, and quite frankly, we'd like to keep it that way." I looked at her pointedly. The last time Alice had come, the moment she'd gotten home she opened her large mouth to the first author she could find and had all her stories published widely. "Why am I an Oyster?" She glanced down at her bran and suddenly seemed to get it. "What, this?" she asked, almost panicked. "Yeah, that's not going to come off." I told her. She sighed. "Sorry." I said, grinning at her for a moment as she tried to rub it off.

When I had her attention again, I went on. "Only people from your world turn green when burnt by the light." She looked mildly horrified, but I pressed on, walking back to my desk to put the glass down. "And they call you Oysters because of the shiny little pearls that you all carry inside." I finished, moving back jauntily. She straightened again, and when she spoke she seemed to be trying her best not to sound frightened. "What do you mean, pearls?"

I'd almost forgotten Ratty was there when he interceded. "She's Alice! Tell him who you are." I closed the distance between us and circled her, saying as I went. "Wow. Really?" Ratty and I shared a grin for a moment and I clapped my hand around his shoulder, addressing the woman. "Ratty here thinks you're Alice." Ratty nodded. "Of Legend." I made it clear with my tone that now that I'd met her, I highly doubted his credibility. Said Alice looked confused. "Who?" I gave Ratty a suffering glance. "The last, uhm, the last time a girl called Alice came here from your world, she brought down the whole house of cars, oh yeah." I moved back around her so we were looking one another square in the face. "Made quite an impression." I turned back to Ratty. "Although _that_ was 150 years ago, she can't be the same one. Oysters don't even live that long." He didn't even flinch. "I still want a good price." _Of course you do._ But Alice had other ideas. "Wait a minute, I am _not_ for sale." she said indignantly, but I wasn't really listening, and silenced her by holding up a finger.

Ratty and I kept close eye contact, while I decided whether to pay him or not. Finally, I turned back to my desk, giving Alice a _look_ before striding over to my Tea cabinet. Ratty tried to follow, but I headed him off with a, "Not on the grass." I sighed as I examined my stores. I was running somewhat low on the rarer emotions, but Ratty wasn't choosey. I picked one, looked back at a very excited Ratty, and then exchanged the bottle for a different one. "Here we are!" I announced, showing off the bottle. "Pink Nectar, filled with the thrill of human excitement. 50 Oysters were drained of every last _drop_ of hullaballoo, so that you, Ratty, can taste what it feels like to win, just once." I approached, holding the bottle out teasingly. He reached for it, and I pulled back. "Warning. Don't take it on an empty stomach and only one _tiny_ little drop at a time or the experience might _burst_ your shriveled up little heart. Got it?"

"Got it."

"Good. Go." Ratty rushed off, and I was relieved to be rid of him.

I smelled my hand suspiciously, finding a rather pungent Ratty scent on them. "He really smells." I informed Alice in a pained voice. She ignored it and addressed a query of her own. "Oysters were _drained?_ What do you mean _drained?_" Her expression was guarded, but stern, as though I were a naughty child doing something terribly unallowed. I looked at her for a moment, almost sympathetic. These were her fellow Oysters I was talking about, after all. But after a few seconds I had to look away. Her disgust unsettled me. So I changed the subject. "Ratty tells me you're looking for someone." I headed back to my desk. I desperately needed a drink. She jumped on the opportunity, saying eagerly, "His name is Jack Chase. He was taken by a man with a white rabbit on his lapel." She followed me as I sat with my drink, even braving my grass. _She _didn't smell, so I allowed it.

I couldn't say this news surprised me. I even almost expected it. But I still had to think carefully for my next words. "I see." I took a drink and then set the glass down on its saucer with a small _clank_. Taking a deep breath, and being careful not to look at her, I started. "The White Rabbit is an organization controlled by the suits. They travel back and forth, through the Looking Glass, and…vanish people from your world to ours." I lifted my cup for another drink, but she spoke. It was a quiet, "Why?" Lost in my thoughts, I blurted out, "To use. In the Casino." and took a sip. There was silence for a moment and then in a very potentially dangerous voice she said, "Use?" I almost choked on my tea. Of course, her dear Jack was in there. Whoops. In an attempt to salvage the situation, I said, putting my cup down and rising, "Did I say use? I- slip of the tongue. They're fine." She didn't believe me. It was written all over her face. "Ya know, they keep em…alive, and…moderately happy." Her face was impassive. "How do I get into this Casino?"

"That's the thing!" I said, smiling. "You don't. Way too dangerous. But." I moved towards her again, watching her facial expressions carefully. She had to be fed the right story the first time for this to work. "I do know some people, who know some…well… other people, if you know what I mean." It was clear on her face she didn't. I was very close to her now, close enough to see she really was quite fetching, even tied up in knots about her Nancy Boy Jack. I leaned in, saying playfully, "It's one of the privileges of running a Tea shop." She leaned away from me, and when I popped my "p", she jumped. Forget jumpy. She's a bloody spring loaded gun. I tried a grin on her, but she remained resolutely impassive.

"Lighten up." I muttered, moving away. She didn't seem to like that comment, but I'd just had a brilliant idea and couldn't be bothered with her sensitivity now. I ran back over to the clear glass wardrobe in my office, motioning for her to wait there. I opened the doors and rifled through the coats for a moment before picking my favourite; a lovely dark purple velvet jacket that I'd had for a long time. Long story. "You should wear this." I made my way back over to her, saying as I went, "It'll cover the glow, stop you from catching a cold." She looked at the jacket like it was some elaborate velvet trap.

After a moment's pause, she offered in a very rusty voice, "I have a little money. But I understand you don't use that here." Money? Oyster currency? I knew this one. "Pieces of paper!" I exclaimed excitedly, and she looked at me like the poisonous jacket and I were in cahoots. "Pointless." I mumbled, moving back behind her.

"Then why would you help me?"

I looked her over carefully from behind, where she couldn't see the appreciative look on my face and likely clock me for it. She did seem the type. And anyways, the girl was fit. Definitely in top form. I leaned in to say into her ear, "Do I need a reason to help a pretty girl in a very wet dress?" The view from behind was almost as lovely as the view in front, and if her precious Jack hadn't been the one she was trying to rescue, I might've reached the small distance and chanced getting clocked just to see if her skin was as soft as it looked. As it was, I made a valiant effort to keep my hands to myself.

Which was unnecessary as she whirled around and backed away from me, skewering me with a glare that only a _woman_ could manage. "Oh. I see." And I did. It was like a slap to the face. All this buttering and _nothin_. Was she completely unbutterable? "You don't trust me." She made no move to correct me, and I crossed the last border into truly offended. "Fine." I snapped, throwing the pretty jacket onto the couch. "I am genuinely hurt. Do you know why they call me Hatter?" I asked, and her eyes flew to my head. "Because you wear a hat?" Touché. "No." I quipped, too defensive to be convincing. "Because I'm always there when they _pass_ the hat, so to speak. Philanthropy. Generosity. I mean, you can call it what you will, but it's who I am and right now, looking at you there, there's nothing I want more than to help you find…" I trailed off, trying desperately to remember her whelp's name but failing. "Jack." she finished helpfully. "Jack! And return you both to your charming world of children's stories." I waited with bated breath.

She _had_ to be clever. She couldn't just be gullible like everyone else. "I don't believe you." she stated frankly, but a hint of a smile played around her lips. Interesting. "I know what you're thinking. If I'm the frying pan, then that out there," I gestured to the windows, "is the fire. I'll be square with ya. I know people who like to help your kind. And if, every once in awhile, I scratch their back…"

She paused for a moment, but said, in a slightly understanding voice, "They'll scratch yours." _Finally_ a concept she grasped. "Precisely." I said happily, smiling widely at her. "Lots of scratchin." It was her turn to examine me closely. And then, suddenly, she reached for the jacket. Funny. It would seem truth actually worked with this Oyster. While she slid the coat on, I headed over to the back of the office, where my back door stood. I yanked it open to the city outside, saying, "Do try to keep up."


	2. Chapter 2

_a/n: Firstly, would like to thank the lovely lovelies who took the time to review. You ought to know that you completely made my life all happy and bubbles and stuffs. Sorry this took so long, my computer went phooey and took poor Hatter with it. The Master is very temperamental, but reviews are tastier than blueberry muffins._

_|ACP|_

Chapter 2:

I was doing a very good job of not looking up as we went down the ladder. Miss _The_ Alice had decided I could be a gentleman and go first on the rusty old scrap metal. Yeah, thanks so much. I was used to the trip down to the grassy walkway below, but she was slow and careful. Figuring I didn't need to be punched off the walk and down into the rivers that ran under the city, I tried very hard not to even peek upwards at the woman clambering down my ladder. I had the distinct impression that the lines going through her head were something like "nanner nanner boo boo, look up and I'll punch you." How unfair.

Still, I sucked it up and dealt with it, taking the long, familiar go down the old ladder slowly. She almost kicked me in the face once, though I like to think that was an accident. I was, after all, helping an illegal Oyster who happened to be the most dangerous and crucially important woman ever to come through the looking glass since the original Alice. She wouldn't kick me in the face for no reason when I was taking such a risk for her and the resistance. I hoped.

As we made it down to the last few rungs, I gave up and jumped down. Besides, it was a pain to step on those last few. Made you crunch up like a Rollapolli bird when it's confronted with the appearance of a Kaprap snail. I landed hard on the cement walk but recovered instantly and turned to survey the city revolving around itself. The place was gritty and grimy and delightful. Somewhere around these corners of the walk a rat was slinking around, probably sliding some Tea, and on the far side of the city I knew there was a den of Mix Houses where the best experiences were created and the worst were experienced, usually leading directly to the Palace of Dreams. Of course the unfortunate Tea pushers that experienced these bad runs were dragged out to a corner before any help was called. Not worth exposing the Mix House's location just for some idiot Wonderlander's nightmares.

Home sweet home.

Alice climbed down the last few steps and then stopped, realising exactly I had: she should've jumped down a few steps up. She clung to the ladder for a moment, forehead creased, and in a half-attempt to be a gentleman, I reached out and took her by the waist, lifting her down to the ground. She was surprisingly light, and while she did stiffen at my touch she allowed me to get her down, even holding onto my arms to steady herself. The velvet was familiar under my fingers, and I wished for just a little bit of foreign material to glance across. The curiosity was irritating. She straightened out after a half second's hold, hands still on my shoulders, saying stiffly, "Thank you." Her light eyes flickered everywhere but on mine and I dropped my hands from her, something curdling in the pit of my stomach.

I turned away from her, breathing deeply to release the tension that had tightened my lungs. After a moment's thought, I set off down the concrete, expecting her to follow. I was in the middle of kicking a pebble off the ledge, having not gone more than three steps before I heard her gasp of surprise. I turned, realising that not only was she not following, she was also clinging to the ladder again. Thankfully (or not) she was facing the world at large this time. The look on her face was one of pure terror, and for a moment I panicked, thinking that a Scarab was approaching from some angle I couldn't see. But a quick cursory glance told me that wasn't the case. I went back to her, asking, "What's the matter?" Her breathing was shallow and sharp, and her eyes never left the edge of the walk, which was a whole foot away from the ladder, at the very most. What was her problem? Was there a spidabettle? I'd heard women have a thing about that.

She had to swallow at least half a dozen times before she could say in a falsely cavalier voice, "Got a thing about heights." I glanced back at the city which kept right on going below us, various foliage reaching out to get a glimpse of some possible sunlight. This was high? Geez. "Why couldn't you guys build the city on the ground?" she half-joked, swallowing loudly again. _Uh, because then it would suck to move around?_ I thought, but I kept it to myself, instead looking back at her. She still hadn't turned her eyes away from the ridge. Something about seeing her so afraid, so vulnerable, made the curdled thing in my stomach expand a little, relaxing a bit and strangely warming. But I couldn't help her. Alice was afraid of heights. I ran these streets like a hare. Still, I had to try. A bit helplessly, I threw out, "Look at me." She closed her eyes completely, taking a rattling breath. Concern washed over me. "Alice." I said gently.

She glanced down at the edge again and then her eyes came up to mine. I reached out my hand to her slowly. Alice glanced from the hand back up to my face for a moment before slowly sliding her hand off the ladder and into my grasp. I was right. Her skin was incredibly soft, if somewhat cold and clammy. I kept careful eye contact with her, and half smiled before saying, "Try not to look down." She just kept looking at me, her breaths deep now but ragged. "Okay?" In response, she began to move slowly away from the ladder, letting me lead her carefully out of the narrow walk and onto more expansive ground. She leaned into my hold and kept her bright blue green irises locked in mine.

As soon as the walk got wider, she let go of my hand, once more behaving as though I were some untrustworthy snake. She trusted the _jacket_ before I did. Flattering.

The resistance outpost (in other words, the library) was on the other side of the city, but now that I knew her reaction to the less spacious areas of the walking area, I led Alice through the more expansive patches, which did include some stair-walking at points. But she didn't seem to have a problem with those, keeping her eyes firmly locked ahead and following my previous instruction of not looking down. Eventually, we came across a complex of faded blue doors, all about a metre apart with white tile in between them, crumbling and dirty just like the rest of the city was. Because this area was narrower than some of the others, Alice walked with her back and hands pressed firmly to the wall, as though she expected someone to come up from behind and shove her off into the far-below streams. _Paranoid much?_

And then I remembered that she was being hunted and regretted the harsh judgement.

We passed straight by at least fifty blue doors with peeling paint, and, to my surprise, Alice didn't even ask where we were going, or make antagonising comments about being lost, like she had been doing a half hour before. I had come that close to pushing her off the edge myself after about ten minutes of the sniping, but I gritted my teeth and eventually she quieted.

Finally we neared the door I was looking for. Inside I knew (or at least hoped) would be the lift that would take us where we needed to be. I knocked three times, three quick raps on the old wood and leaned against it, waiting for the request for the "password" to come. They must have been expecting me, because it was only a few seconds later that the eye-level door slid open. "I'm returning a library book. It's a work of Edwin and Morcar." I said loudly and clearly, having had far too much experience with these nutters when they thought someone was a Heart drone.

The old man's voice came through, and I could see his mouth moving in the small door. "How does the little crocodile improve his shining tail?" I sighed and said impatiently, "He pours water of the nile on every golden scale." The little rhyme didn't make sense at all, but the librarians were attached to it. I glanced over at Alice with an exasperated look, but she seemed amused. Hmm. Maybe it made sense to her.

The small door slid closed, and a moment after the real door swung open, with the familiar sound of compressed gas escaping. The old man, said, almost frantically, "Come on, be quick." while scurrying over to the driver's area. "Hello Duck." I greeted him, motioning Alice into the lift before me. It always blew over badly when I went first. I climbed up the steps after her and held onto one of the partitions to stabilise myself before I was bowled over as Duck pulled the lever and we were hurled downwards. The lights flickered, and Alice gripped the back of one of the chairs, glancing around in alarm. She sank into the chair and looked to me, gasping. I nodded, shifting from foot to foot to maintain my balance, saying, "It's alright." The lift rattled and shook, scraping along the stone edges of the tunnel we were sinking through.

After a minute, the lift slowed down, the library's atrium coming into view through the grimy window behind Alice. She made to stand, but I held out a hand of caution. "Just wait." She glanced at me questioningly, but then the lift really came to a stop, jarring all of Ducky, Alice and I. He moaned, and she let out a sharp breath. I winced a bit at the pressure it put on my ankles, and then gave her a look that clearly said, "Told you so."

Being the kindly man I am, not only did I refrain from actually saying it, I motioned her to exit the car first. She rose quickly, seeming eager to get the hell off the lift. Can't really say I blame her. The thing rattled even my bones. I moved to follow her out, but we all froze as the snapping of a rifle clicking into place rang out through the lift and the tunnel.

_a/n: dun dun dunnnnn! Tada. The Master is still fried to all get out, but luckily there's more than one computer in the world. More coming soon, promise. _

_Also, you'll notice that I generally stop where the show does, for commercials and potty breaks and whatnot, which is somewhat for the same reason but mostly to preserve the feel of the show. _

_Next chapter includes shoot em up bang bangs and Owls and books. _

_Love and pancakes lovelies!_

|_ACP|_


	3. Chapter 3

_A/N: Firstly, I'd like to start off by thanking the dear lovely reviewing peoples. Many hugs and fluffy rabbits. Constructive criticism (ie cons and pros) are _always_ appreciated. I can only improve if I know what to improve upon, and reviews are bubbles of sunshine and happy. And now I'd like to say: YAY! I have Alice for my very own on the DVD thingy now, so the chapters will be much more regular. Even though I cheated and already did the end. No more working off of youtube for moi. Although if you do love Hatter, which I'm assuming you do, look for his Andrew-Lee Potts only parts. They are on the internet if you know where to look. _

_Now for a disclaimer, which I completely failed at putting before. If you haven't figured out, I am not, in fact, one of Syfy's fantabulous minds, and therefore do not own any part of Alice except a few quippy thoughts here and there. I despise OC's, so none of those in here, though a few backstories have been fabricated by yours truly, to add some depth to the deeply depthy characters. _

_Thank ya muchly for your time and blah blah blah blah._

_|ACP|_

Chapter 3:

Owl was waiting for us outside the lift doors. She was, of course, holding a large rifle, lips pursed and eyes narrowed behind her large golden framed glasses. A slight pressure on my right shoulder attracted my eyes and I turned slightly to see Duck pressing a much smaller black gun into my shoulderblade. I sighed, deflating a bit. I had rather _hoped_ they would be at least a little civil. Having just managed to win at least a smidge of Alice's confidence, they really weren't doing anything for the trust campaign. I could almost feel my credibility metre going downwards. I motioned tiredly for Alice to step down out of the lift, since just standing here was obviously going to get us nowhere but pointed at by deadly weapons, and she obliged, hands raised to her shoulders. "Why don't we just put these things away?" I said, following her down the steps at Duck's prodding. "Come on, you know me well enough." What did they expect? After all this time put into keeping them fed and hidden away I was suddenly going to bludgen them to death? What sense did _that_ make?

"We have our orders." Duck replied, following us down and into the main hallway of the splendid atrium. It was a balcony of sorts that wrapped itself around the once-grand room, carpeted in maroon with a gold chandelier hanging precariously in the middle. Beautiful, if they'd ever clean up every now and again. Alice led the way down the hall, hands still raised, and I kept close behind her, with Owl holding her rifle behind me all the while. "And keep that right hand where we can see it." Owl warned, voice wavering. I sighed and Alice and I turned to face them. Should've known they'd go on about that. It had been an _accident, _that hole in the wall. _When_ were they going to let that go?

"It's just flesh and blood." I reasoned, showing off said hand as if to prove it. Really it was, if somewhat more durable and absurdly stronger than most other right hands. Owl didn't buy it. "Right," she scoffed, "we've all seen what you can do with that sledgehammer." I felt Alice's eyes on me and felt the need to change the subject. I didn't feel like explaining much. "Did you like the box of confects I brought you guys last week? The cured meats, and the cheese?" I asked, more than a bit offended that Owl was still clutching her gun as though I were going to swoop down on her and tear her throat out. Duck and Owl shared a glance and Duck said, almost sadly, "They're all gone." I'd expected as much. "Well if you don't treat me with a little respect, you won't get another crumb." This wasn't an empty threat and they knew it. I spoiled them especially, mostly because they were the security detail around here. But easliy as anything I could take my generous feedings to some other poor hungry soul that haunted the library's halls. Owl lowered her eyes, ashamed, and the gun followed, now clutched to her breast.

"Sorry Hatter. Everyone's a little jumpy." she apologised, turning to lead the way to the main man's office. "Everyone's always a little jumpy." I grouched, pushing Alice forward gently. She still had her hands raised, and her eyes remained on Duck's lowered gun as we passed him. We rounded the corner and the rest of the library became visible. A row of columns afforded a good look into what lay below, but not much could be seen yet. "Where are we?" Alice asked, sounding both fearful and somewhat awestruck. "The great library." I explained as we walked, "It's five thousand years of history hidden here. Art, literature, law. Rescued when the Queen of Hearts seized power." My voice became more and more somber as I went on, moving a bit ahead of Alice. "She'd like nothing more than to see this burnt to nothin." I looked out over the beautiful sight and felt the familiar pang of pride for what I was doing. Yeah, it was risky. But it was miserable here under the Queen's thumb. If I was being honest with myself, which I usually wasn't, I would've preferred the resistance in charge to the Heart rule.

Though not by much.

"Who's the Queen of Hearts?" Alice asked dubiously. I had forgotten how little she still knew about Wonderland. It set Owl into a panic, and the gun was back in our direction when she whirled around to face us. "She doesn't know the Queen?" Suddenly her face was scrunched up in anger, and her rifle was directly in my face. "Who the hell is she Hatter?" she snapped as she advanced on us. Alice and I backed away quickly, almost tripping over ourselves to get away. "Could you just relax, Owl?" I said, motioning for her to stop. Slowly she did come to a halt. "Calm." She shifted the gun a little but didn't remove it. "She's led a sheltered life, that's all." I lied, praying they'd take it and let it go. Duck was fed up with it and sputtered, "Back to the elevator! Both of you!" Great. Just wonderful.

Drastic times... I reached into my coat pockets to pull out my backup weapons that I saved specially for whenever I came to visit these dingbats. Two large biscuits drizzled in chocolate. Owl was spooked when I moved, backing away slightly screeching "Watch that right hand!"

"Have you two not learned to trust me yet?" I asked them, revelaing the biscuits. Immediately the rifle moved back to Owl's chest and I could almost hear her and Duck salivating. Checkmate. "Is that a bribe?" She was suspicious, but her hunger was showing even in her voice. "Yes. Two bribes." I looked from her to Duck to measure their reactions. They were in my favour. "Tasty, delicious, yummy ones." My eyes moved to Alice, who was standing directly in front of me and staring. "So hard to make a sensible decision on an empty stomach, don't you think?" I asked her. She just blinked at me, and I wondered for a moment if she was alright. But I could see Duck shifting next to me, anxious to get his hands on the biscuit I held out to him. "You'd better be on the level, Hatter." he warned, but there was no teeth behind the gripe. "Or you won't make it out of here alive this time." A song I'd heard too many times to count.

And quick as that, the biscuits were out of my hands and tucked away in their respective pockets. Owl turned away to continue her task of leading us to Dodo, and Alice's eyes followed her, amusement playing around her mouth. I realised I had yet to see Alice smile. How odd. But Owl was getting away from us and there were things to be done other than wonder about what Alice smiling would look like. When I turned and resumed walking, pretty happy at a bribe well played, she followed closely saying, "These are the guys who are going to help me find Jack?"

"Don't worry, their boss is a little more...savvy." I assured her quietly. But Alice had stopped and was staring off into the depths of the Library below, down towards the stacks of dusty old books through which the homeless and unwanted of Wonderland wandered. I myself tried to avoid looking at it from up here. It was much more depressing from this angle. Down there, level with the stacks and people living in them, the view was a lot less disheartening. "Who are those poor people?" Alice asked in a rough voice, forehead crumpled with pity at the sight before her. I sighed and moved back to the balcony rail, saying, "Refugees." My eyes scanned the musty disarray below. Sick people who had been here for years, new people who had recently grown tired of seeing their world crumble about their ears, even some from the Hospital of Dreams, pronounced "recovered" by the mysterious Caterpillar, milled about, playing endless games of chess and nursing one another. "Those who don't want to be a part of the Queen's world of instant gratification."

Alice drew closer to the rails, transfixed by the sight of two women nursing a frail looking blonde girl with a thin, meager soup below. "We give em shelter and try to feed them the best we can but... it is dangerous. If the Queen found out they wouldn't stand a chance." Silence fell as she digested this. "Why does she want to destroy all of this?"

I glanced at her to find her still watching them intently, pity mingling with an emotion I couldn't name on her face. "Wisdom is the biggest threat." I explained. "She controls people with a quick fix." The name of the look came to me then, maybe because it was the feeling I got when I saw what the Queen had done to our shining world of Wonderland. Pure disgust.

Good. The sooner we got to Dodo the better. "Come on. Best not keep them waiting." I urged her gently, and she came away from the railing reluctantly to follow Owl and Duck again. The two had begun to eat their biscuits, the crumbs cascading down their fronts and the chocolate melting to their fingertips as their body heat warmed it. They took the small, sparing bites of the experienced starved.

No, this could certainly not be allowed to keep on. Wonderland needed to be helped. And Alice was going to have to be the one to do it.


	4. Chapter 4

_A/N: Hallo again lovelies. Thank goodness for warrenties: the Master is alive and well once more and the weekend is free(ish) for Alicey indulgences, so chapters will likely be going up like mad. Just warning ya. _

_ sorry for taking so long, I had this chapter written for FOREVER but as it turns out Toshibas older than 2 years like to fail at life. Like the Master. Also I have the attention span of a envelope. So. There you have it. *pours petty excuses on reader* Tada!_

_DISCLAIMER: unfortunately for me, I do not own any part of Alice apart from the snappy thoughts and off-camera occurrances that link all the fun stuffs together. Those are mine. But other than that, it's all Syfy. _

_Read, review, throw through a window, whatever._

_Love and buttermilk frosting!_

_|ACP|_

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><p>Chapter 4<p>

Dodo's office was just inside the first door on the hall. The rest of our walk there was silent, though far from uneventful. I was in the process of mulling over how I could possibly get Dodo to work with us for free with nothing but Alice's name and her oyster paper to bargain with. And then I saw it, when she went to brush some hair from her face. On her left hand, her ring finger held a stone on an inlaid band. The ring was impressive, and its strategic location was probably the work of this Jack person. My stomach dropped a notch when I saw it, but I forced myself to look past that. Maybe her money was worthless, but Dodo had a thing for ancient looking stuff, and this ring looked old, maybe even from the era of the Knights. If that were the case, and it was valuable enough to hauk for some food, then perhaps Dodo would consider helping us. Her. Helping her. Not us.

Owl knocked thrice on the door before it creaked open, revealing the cozy room with blue and white paneled walls. Not that you could really see the walls much with all the trinkets in the room. Books were stacked everywhere, books about the old days and the Red King's original laws, books about Wonderland before the Hearts. A large arch dominated the left side of the room, revealing a little alcove filled almost to the brim with stacks of old books, pages worn like one of a bible. A mural of a casle tower was inlaid into the back wall of the alcove, and I remembered Dodo once telling me that it was the Red King's castle tower. That was where many of these books in the office had been kept before the Queen of Hearts seized power and wiped the place out.

A tree was on the right of the room, creating shade in the already dim little office. Beneath our feet was an intricate rug, endless geometric patterns swirling around our shoes and out to the fraying edges. As usual, Dodo was hiding somewhere in the shadows. He wasn't a friend of much light, though he had at least five lamps in the room, maybe more, all emmitting either a low white light or a medium orange glow. Duck stayed back towards the door, but Owl, being one of Dodo's favourites, went to stand by the tree, gun arm finally relaxing completely. Strange lot, them. I led Alice to the middle of the rug where Dodo could get a good look at her before coming out, where we could be seen and maybe even trusted for it if we were lucky.

"What do you want, Hatter?" came the voice of the resistance leader, and from the corner of my eye I could see Alice stiffen and peer suspiciously into the shadow. "I've come with a proposition for you." I answered levelly, staying close to Alice just in case. "This is Alice. She's looking for her boyfriend. A Jack Chance." I was careful to keep my eyes on the shadows, anticipating any movement from their depths. "_Chase_." Alice corrected me, a bit too excited for the delicate situation we were in. She seemed to be happy to have simply made it this far. "His name is Jack Chase." Ah yes, so it was. Whoops. My bad.

"She needs help. I thought of you, Dodo." I pressed on firmly. I would have to hold my ground when Dodo toyed with us, as he was sure to do. He always did, after all, and he was never one to break old habits. "Really?" he asked skeptically, suspicion colouring his voice as he rose and came just that much more into the light. He was a plumpish man for one that didn't eat very often, dressed in dark clothing with a mustache and small beard flecked with grey speckles. If I didn't know him better I would've guessed him to be a conniving sort just by looking at him. He had that quirk to his brow. Considering I _did_ know him though, I didn't have to do any manner of guessing towards that end. He would definitely try and get out on top with this, and I was going to have to really work for it if I wanted anything from him. He was a born politician.

"And why would I want to help your Oyster?" he questioned, somewhat irritably, now coming over fully into the light but keeping far across the room from us. His face was full of his usual contempt for me. He was just mad because of that holey wall business. Which hadn't been _my fault, _by the way. Mostly. "When you know that bringing her here puts us all at risk?" His voice was deadly now, annoyance colouring every syllable. Oh. Well. Perhaps not mad about just the wall then. Still, I was going to have to keep on top of this. It was essential to Alice's escape with her precious damsel of a boyfriend. "Oh please." I scoffed. "I've spent years smuggling more dangerous things than _this_ down here."

Dodo's smile was forced, as though he were biting back a million little things he would've just _loved_ to have called me, but considered himself above actually calling me them. "You know what rankles most about bloodsucking carpetbaggers like you, Hatter?" he asked, coming foreward to stand by Owl, who was once again tensed up now that her leader was irritable. Though how he could possibly be _anything _other than irritated with me in the room I don't know. I didn't answer. I had the strangest feeling that whatever it was Dodo needed to get off his chest about me had better be out of the way when negotiations really began. And I was a little busy storing away the term 'carpetbaggers' for possible use later on. "Your gall." he answered for me, glancing without interest at Alice and then turning his contemptuous eyes back to me. "You think you can play both sides of the court and come away with two trophies." I felt Alice's eyes on me but kept mine locked with Dodo's. He wasn't lying, and that was what worried me most. Telling the truth about me with Alice in the room wouldn't help anyone, considering I was the only one she was even slightly familiar with. And on a deeper level I didn't really want her to know. He was calling me a coward, and it was true. I didn't want her to see me like that for some reason.

"I haven't seen daylight for three years." he went on, the hateful smile never once slipping from his face. "And Owl here has forgotten what a vegetable tastes like." Owl stood at attention at once, saying somewhat hopefully, "I remember comquat. Is that a vegetable?" Nobody really had the heart to answer her. On any other occasion, in a less tension-charged room, I would've found this funny. But not now. Not here. I wasn't fool enough to laugh at that when Dodo had that manic look on his face. "While we risk our _lives_ trying to bring freedom to ungrateful _leeches_ like you, you swan about, living the good life." Now that wasn't necessarily true, and so this was where I had to draw the line.

Besides, there's only so much stepping-on a man can take, no matter how pretty the girl beside him is, or how good the cause. "Stop your crowing. You know I'm on your side." I snapped. In truth I was a bit panicked. He was going too far for this to even have a _chance_ of turning out favourably for anyone. I could only hope that he would _really_ fancy the ring. "I'm sure you say that to all your enemies." he replied coldly, moving back around his desk. That ticked it. "I do what's necesarry! I kiss what butts need kissing so your machine stays oiled." I said indignantly, feeling the room's temperature drop about a billion degrees. Alice cut in, apparently tired of waiting for Dodo to grow some reason. "Look, if you can't help me, I'll just leave." she quipped, turning to do just that. But she was stopped by Dodo's chuckles. "Headstrong, isn't she?" he asked me. _You have _no_ idea. Took ten minutes of sweet talking to jet her to wear a bloody jacket._ She turned back around, obviously having lost any semblance of patience she had. "Can you help me get Jack out of the casino?" she insisted, glaring right back at him.

He considered her for a moment and then assumed his facade again. "Well I don't see how." he mused. But I called his bluff. "The resistance has contacts inside the Casino, right?" He straightened slowly, amusement slowly sliding off his face and put on his politician game. "No comment." he said in a dignified manner, glancing away. So that's a yes. "Use them to find her guy." I suggested, sensing a favourable turn in the proceedings. If this played out right I would be good for at least a week. No under the table dealings with the Hearts for a month. _Just let it turn out right... for once_. "She can pay you." I offered. And there it was. The spark of interest in Dodo's flat grey eyes. Gotcha.

Sensing my victory, I rushed out, "But I want my usual cut, up front." I avoided Alice's eyes, but I knew what she would be thinking now. I had proved myself exactly what Dodo had said I was with that sentence, and I only hoped that if this didn't pan out I could come up with a good lie to excuse it. "Pay me?" Dodo mused, coming back around to face us outright. It was the closest to us he'd been all through the exchange. "Pay me with what?" Uncomfortable with his proximity, I moved to Alice's other side, weighing my options. Chances were, she was already mad about the payment deal with Dodo and I for me bringing her here. She was sure to be ticked beyond believing if I offered up her Nancy Prancy Boy's ring. But what choice did we have?

"Show him the rock Alice." I said stiffly, not looking at her for fear of the betrayal I would find in those bright eyes. But it was clear in her voice when she asked, "What?" And so I kept my eyes trained on Dodo. "The ring. On your finger." My voice was expressionless, as I forced my thoughts to stay calm and distant. That was the only way this was getting through at this point. "No, that is off limits." she insisted quietly, glancing from an interested Dodo back to me. Finally I had to look at her, and what I saw there unsettled me. More than betrayed, she looked _hurt_. I was offering up her things, precious things by the look of it, without even asking. For a moment my resolve was almost undone. "It's all you have, Alice." I pointed out, but the look did not leave her eyes. If anything it seemed to harden. "No." she said firmly.

Dodo stepped forward, grabbing Alice's left hand, taking her by surprise. He examined the ring and I watched him carefully, ready to pull Alice away if it turned nasty. Which it did, of course. At first the expression on his face was only shock, pure unfiltered, undisguised shock. Then it was replaced by an insane excitement, and a mild fury. "It's not possible." He muttered to himself, small eyes looking at Alice in alarm. She yanked her hand away, but I could only concentrate on Dodo's stunned expression. "Where did you get it?" he snapped, all pretense of friendliness gone. She shook her head, shifting anxiously from foot to foot. "It's none of your business, it's not for sale." she said uncomfortably. Ah, so it _had_ been from her Damsel. Lovely.

But he wasn't having that. "Where did you get it?" he roared suddenly, advancing on her. She glanced at me in alarm, and I tried to intervene and (hopefully) get some sense from him. "What, what is it?" It just looked like an ordinary ring to me, albeit a bit old and valuable looking. Dodo glanced from me to her angrily, and then snatched up her hand again, presenting it to me. "Your oyster is wearing the Stone of Wonderland."

_What?_ The... The bloody _Stone of Wonderland_? How the hell had she... but she _was_ an Oyster, there was no doubt about that, none at all. I turned to face her and she began to back away, alarm clouding her eyes. But I had no room to worry about that now. "That's impossible." I breathed, watching her face carefully. A terrible thought had occurred to me. What if she was a spy? What if she'd been enlisted by the Hearts to be led to the resistance hideaway? But no, I could see written all over her face that she was just a frightened woman trying to get her boyfriend and go home. Still. The Stone of Wonderland. "I'm never wrong." Dodo assured me, a fanatic edge to his voice. "Where did you get it Alice?" I asked urgently, and her nervous foot shifting turned into a defensive stance, as though she were prepared to fight us both in a heartbeat for this thing.

"Jack gave it to me." she stuttered, eyes darting from Dodo to me and back again. I was still trying to work through the fact that Alice had the Stone, but Dodo was miles ahead of me. "Jack?"

"Jack Chase, the guy we're looking for." she reminded him, edging away more. "Well where did _he _get it?" he pressed, getting in her face as he demanded answers from her. "I don't know!" she said, exasperated, but this wasn't a good answer for Dodo. Throwing caution to the wind, he snarled "Give it to me!" Immediately she was shouting back, "No". How very Alice.

Always one to be sensible and talk things through, Dodo seemed to swell and turned away from her, heading back over to his desk and motioning to Owl. "Take her out." he bellowed, and immediately Owl's rifle was pointed at Alice, though her eyes were wide and unsure. "Are you _crazy?_" Alice shrieked, and instinctively I stepped in front of the rifle, not considering what a terrible idea that was. "Stop." I commanded, holding out a hand to Owl as though that would keep any bullet from piercing either Alice or I. "Just wait."

"You're in way over your head, Hatter." Dodo informed me angrily, and I turned to him pleadingly. "Just give me one second to talk to her, okay?" But he already had a gun drawn from his desk and directed at me, the only thing standing between him and Alice. Have I ever mentioned how little I like guns? Especially when they're pointed at me. Not a fan, surprisingly. The mania was back in his eyes. "The ring controls the Looking Glass." he said coldly, and behind me Alice raised her arms in surrender again. "You know that." I did indeed, but I wasn't about to hold a gun to a defenseless woman for it. Guess that was the difference between Dodo and I. I glanced back at Duck, who also had drawn his gun somewhere in the rapidly deteriorating negotiation session, and then looked back at Dodo. "Calm down." I instructed them. "Put the gun away, I'm sure we can all get what we want here."

My clever little attempt at salvaging the situation was, of course, thrown by Alice. Who else would blurt out in the middle of a tension-filled, _failing _negotiation; "No one is _getting _this ring." _Shut up, shut up, shut _up_. _I begged her mentally. I threw her a dirty look over my shoulder, but turned my attention back to Dodo, who was saying, "We've been waiting for thirty years for a break like this. And now it falls into our laps." And then he was advancing on us with his gun raised steadily. Any shot fired from that would mean certain death for a little Oyster. "Stop waving that thing around, you're scaring everyone." _But mostly me._ I was backing away, placing myself directly in front of Alice. Better me than her. "If we can return the Oysters, back to their world, maybe we can save ours." he reasoned, but I was beyond being reasoned with. "Just put the gun down!" I shouted. Dodo wasn't listening. "Think about it. The Queen, reduced to mopping floors. It'll be just like the old days." I glanced back at Alice in alarm. Her eyes were wide and afraid. Everything was moving too fast, it was difficult for even me to process it. "Justice. Reason. And the rule of law." he yelled, raising the gun so it was level with my chest.

This was too much for me. "Stop this!" I cried, grabbing the barrel of the gun with my right hand, hoping to crush the thing before any harm could come to anyone. But Dodo managed to move the gun back towards my chest and squeezed the trigger.

Blinding pain. I was flying through the air, and chaos had truly fallen on the little office. I was dimly aware of lying in a pile of books. Though I hadn't, of course, been pierced by any bullet, the impact was still very real. There would be a nasty bruise on my chest for weeks, maybe even some muscle damage. I was too stunned to move, but I could hear Alice scream "No!" and Owl's shocked cry of, "You've shot Hatter!" There was a short silence during which I tried to unscramble my brains from the thoroughly mixed up mush it had become on impact, but it was soon ended by Dodo saying angrily, "We don't need him anymore. The ring is our ticket out of here."

I couldn't move to see what happened next, but there was the sound of a scuffle and a hefty man hitting the ground, and then I thought I heard someone Alice-sized run from the room. My muscles seemed to unfreeze and I pulled my own gun from my pocket, aiming it at the ceiling and firing it once while attempting to rise. Dodo froze at the sight of me gasping and panting my way into a standing position, hand clutched over the spot where the bullet hit, and gun aimed directly at his face. I crossed the room quickly, spitting, "Leave her alone, or believe me the next one will be aimed at your _head_." Suddenly Dodo was all about the negotiation. "Look, Hatter, this is a game changer." he said militantly, while I moved my gun around to Owl, who flinched away. "I'll give you three times your price." A quick glance back at Duck. "Five. Ten. You name it." he promised, moving forward eagerly. I was having none of it after being shot. Being shot makes me incredibly cranky.

I shook the gun at him, snapping "_Back off_." Instantly the demeanour changed. "If you let her leave with the ring," he threatened, "I'll have every member of the resistance hunting you down. You'll be dead before tea time." He wasn't kidding. But none of that mattered. All that was important right now was getting Alice out. And hopefully getting me out too. But mostly Alice. Clutching my wounded chest, I gestured at Owl and Duck, who had shrunk away into the shadows, angry and more than a bit betrayed."And that's the thanks I get?" I hissed, "For keeping you bums fed and watered all these years?" Using my attempt at saving my skin, Dodo reached out and twisted my wrist behind my back, which made a nasty cracking sound and brought me to the ground while he ran from the room after Alice. I knelt there, coughing from the exertion and pain that came from being shot and attacked in the space of five minutes, but within a moment was on my feet again, hobbling after him as best I could.

Dodo was almost at the lift when I caught him. He was running faster than I was, so I did the first thing that came to mind: I took a lunge forwards and brought him down with me when I fell. I could see Alice fiddling about with things frantically in the lift, and realised she had no means of escape without me telling her how to make it go. "Hatter!" she cried, keeping a tight hold on the bar by the lift doors. I managed to get Dodo somewhat pinned and called to her, "It's the blue button." Struggling to keep the (significantly) larger man down on the ground, I landed a few light punches with my right fist, which seemed to daze him significantly. Too light, then.

The lift wasn't moving. _What is she _doing?I thought, panicked. Dodo shoved me off him and I smashed into the corner of one of the alcoves, groaning in the pain that shot through my body when the impact jarred my chest. And yet, she was still there. "Go, Alice!" I shouted as Dodo rushed me, attempting to pull me out of my firmly-rooted stance. "Hurry up and push the blue button!" Using his feeble attempts to my advantage, I pulled him off of me and slammed him into a balcony pillar which shifted with his formidable weight. Thoroughly not happy now, I reared back my right hand for a good solid punch, holding back just a little and flying the deadly force forward. But he ducked, just in time for my fist to shatter a good portion of the stone column. "Lucky." I muttered, and then suddenly I was being kneed in the gut and the _face_, which hurt like a gwormy worm. The slamming of my head on the maroon carpeted floor made my vision swim, and the only thought in my head was that my hat was gone for some reason. And that, well. That was never a good sign.

Having learned his lesson, Dodo knelt over me, grabbing my right arm and holding it firmly as he whaled on my face, the pain swelling behind my eyelids and the loss of my hat keeping me from even thinking of moving to get him off. Besides. The man was twice my size. Struggling would've just made me _more_ tired. Dimly, I was aware of the sound of heels on the carpet, coming our way. _She hasn't _left_ yet? _And then Dodo's weight was gone (thank suits) and it was his turn to be whaled on. But his assailant was more than two times smaller than him, and in a dress. Ouch.

Figuring Alice could handle herself, I looked around feebly for my hat, finding it a half foot away and scooting over to it on my belly, laying on top of it for a moment until my puddle-brain was convinced the hat would be safe if I put it on my head. I was getting up to do so, or beginning to anyway, when Dodo fell to the ground with a sound of pain and Alice grabbed me around the middle, pulling me up and saying, "Come on, Hatter." All I could think was that I had been beaten to putty by a man who got taken down in less than a minute by a five foot three girl in heels. But she was running, and hadn't let me go yet, and I had to stumble to keep up. Not, of course, that I exactly minded the feeling of her hands curled at my side, pulling me to her so she could help me. It was quite a pleasant experience. Except for the whole brain-is-a-puddle thing. "How did you do that?" I asked as we stumbled, dazed and confused but managing to get my precious hat back onto my head where it belonged. I had gone through hell and back to get the thing, and I'd be damned if I was going to lose it because Dodo knocked me over.

She rushed us onto the lift and set me down, none too gently as Dodo had just stood up, on the floor, clamboring over me and slapping the blue button. As the lift climbed upwards past the faded, peeling wallpaper and cement sides of the chute, I heard the despaired cry of Dodo realizing that the Stone of Wonderland was gone. And it was going to stay that way, if I had anything to say about it.

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><p><em>AN: Good gravy that was long. Took at least three hours of, essentially, frame by frame Alice-watching to get all that rot down. Hope you enjoyed the latest delve into the inner workings of Hatter, the next one should be up sometime this weekend if I can get time off to work on it. _

_And my new laptop comes in sometime this weekend (sorry Master), so that should be happiness. _

_ Until then, arrivederci my chitlens! _

_Love and pancakes,_

_|ACP|_


	5. Chapter 5

_A/N: Tada! I _am_ capable of keeping promises! Take _that _procrastination! I'm super duper excited, cause this is my first time ever with a laptop that has a DVD drive built in (the Master is too small), and so that's what's with such a speedy update. Don't get used to the whole keeping my due dates nonsense, because as a lovely reviewer__** half of Twin**__ pointed out: I, like very many other writers, will probably _never _do it again. Thank you very very much for the advice! _

_ Now for the ever popular and oh-so-original: DISCLAIMER. I do not own any characters in Alice except for one currently in sketches, and nothing except a few quippy thoughts here and there and some fill in the blank backstory nonsense is mine. All hail the mighty SyFy for being totally awesome._

_ So sit back, relax, and enjoy the show. Reviews are tastier than fish custard or Red Vines. _

_ Cheersio my pets!_

_ |ACP|_

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><p>Chapter 5<p>

The lift rumbled up the chute as I lay on the cold, filthy floor, wincing from the slowly dulling pain of having my ass handed to me by an overweight fudge sickle. The being shot by said fudge sickle definitely wasn't helping. Alice, panting from all the rough-and-tumble excitement, knelt down at my side at once, concern and panic written all over her pale features. Fetching indeed.

"How bad is it?" she asked, fingers fumbling with the buttons on my favourite paisley shirt, which was now unfortunately soaked in my sweat. The fact that _anyone_, especially Alice, was showing any concern whatsoever for my wellbeing threw me. But I found that I liked it quite a bit, and the sensation of her practically tearing at my shirt to get it off wasn't too bad either. Too bad for me it was because I got shot. Playing it up just a bit, I cried out in pain that was quickly ebbing away with every passing moment, enjoying the stricken look on her features as she strove to ensure my continued existence. It meant that somewhere, deep, deep in that infuriatingly distant body of hers, she cared whether I lived or died. Which was pretty swell, if you consider.

She stared for a moment at my chest which was, of course, covered in a bulletproof vest. I wasn't _stupid_, and I had _met_ Dodo before. After the last time he shot me (admittedly after the Wall incident which happened to involve his precious tower mural), there was no way I would ever go down there again without complete assurance I would come topside _not_ riddled in holes. The bullet had managed to lodge itself nicely in my top right shoulder padding, and it occurred to me when she didn't speak that I probably shouldn't have played it up quite so much. Her concern was quickly turning to confusion, which, I knew, very soon would melt into anger. Alice wasn't hard to read: I'd only known her a few hours, and I already knew that I had better pray she didn't know what it was I was wearing, or I would be in for the lecture of my life.

"Body armor?" she asked, half-surprised with a hint of that delightful little snip of anger I'd been praying against. Ah. Well. I opened one eye to look at her, trying to think fast to get an excuse. Nothing came, for once. "You're not even wounded." she accused me, but her fingers lingered around the injury, and for a stupid moment I wished the armor _wasn't _there. If it hadn't been, she wouldn't be about to get furious. Besides, then I could feel the brush of her fingertips… and then she could punch me for thinking my thoughts, because she was very possibly engaged to some pansy boy named Jack. She smacked the spot with the bullet, which made a very painful shot of lightning streak down my tendons. "You _lied_ to me!" she shouted, standing up and moving away from me for the first time since the lift had started moving. It took a moment to realize that she was not, in fact, talking about my acting prowess, but was instead referring to my stunt back at the Library with Dodo and her ring.

"I was trying to help you." I reminded her breathlessly, wincing again as I tried to move. My neck was leaning up against the little bench that Alice had fallen onto earlier, and it was in no way comfortable. "By _selling _my ring?" she asked, eyes bright with her anger. "Well I didn't know it was the Stone of Wonderland, did I?" I shot back with as much volume as I could muster. But in the end it was too _much_ volume, and I reached up instinctively towards my raw throat, grimacing at how dry it was. "Why didn't you _ask me_ before bringing me here?" she insisted, as though that should've been the first thing on my mind, as though I hadn't made up the plan as I went along. "You wouldn't have come." I had to grab my throat again, the words just barely escaping my mouth before it began to ache. And by ache I mean burn with the fire of the suns.

"Damn right I wouldn't, he tried to kill me!" she yelled, brow furrowing. "Yeah, well he actually _shot _me." I reminded her, pulling aside the shirt and pointing to the evidence, which was still somehow lodged in my vest. Then again, it had been a very close ranged shot. "Tell me the truth. What is this stone of Wonderland?" Glad enough that she had (finally) lowered her voice, I took a deep, painful breath and set about explaining it. "It's a big deal. It was mined by the ancient knights, to power the Looking Glass. The door that connects our world to yours." Funnily enough, that part wasn't what she got stuck on. "Knights?" she asked, looking as though I'd just told her slugs could tap-dance. "They were wiped out a long time ago by the Queen. She took the Looking Glass and, of course, the stone." Halfway through, my lungs began to un-shrivel from the curled up crusts all of the pain and exertion had turned them into, and the ache that was centred at the impact point now felt free to bloom and spread through my body. I sucked in a breath through my teeth to show Alice that I really _was_ in pain, entry wound or no entry wound.

She ignored my show (rude) in favour of looking at her Nancy Boy's ring on her finger, a mixture of bewilderment and sadness brewing in her eyes. Once again, the million dollar question popped into my head: "How did _Jack_ get hold of it?" And once again I was ignored in favour of the ring. Flattering.

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><p><em>AN: Okay, so it's absurdly short. But it's still thoroughly on time. And it only took about an hour of stop-go action to write, so brownie points on that! And, if I'm telling the truth, which I usually don't, I'm sort of rushing because of a night class in l'art de Aikido. _

_ Outlook on next chapter involves some more smooth talking on Hatter's part (hopefully with less usage of the synonym function: I only know so many for "wincing" and "grimacing" offhand, and he did it _SO MUCH_ in the last bit), also a bit of running from robot-rabbits and some high-speed motorboat action. Completion date is going incredibly unset, as I haven't updated my other fic in a bit and that one I've been working on for about a year now. So there's really no excuse for the whole "1 chapter so far" deal. Also, warning, examinations approaching, so I will be very flaky for a bit. Sorry, I hate school too. _

_ As always my sweets,_

_ Your semi-somewhat-devoted fictioneer,_

_ |ACP|_


	6. Chapter 6

_A/N: So, after much toiling and debating and debilitating: another update. This will definitely be the last one for this weekend because stop and go gives me a headache, and my HP fic badly needs attention, as well as the actual publishable novels I have going outside of fanfic. I've tried not to make it too cliffhangy, but if that's how it ends then I beg your forgiveness. _

_ In addition to my horribly dismal attention span, I now have a show to watch outside of my hobby work. If you haven't seen Primeval, I highly suggest it. _

_ To _**Celticvampirss**, _it absolutely was. Parents are big fans, so the older series was a big part of my childhood. Out of the new ones though, Matt is my favourite. _

_ DICLAIMIFICATION: I do not own the lovely Alice or Hatter, or anyone really, aside from a slightly planned side character who, I promise, will not upset the feng sui of Wonderland. A few snippy thoughts here and there are mine, as well as the yadayada backstories and all that jazz. Hatter's family is mine, but then, so is a lot of filler backstory goodness._

_ Reviews are better than Jelly Babies. Nom. _

_Thank you everyone for your enthusiastic support. I couldn't ask for better readers._

_ As always my pets:_

_ |ACP|_

Chapter 6

The moment that the lift shuddered to a stop, she was off, hair waving furiously behind her as she wandered determinedly out of the blue door and down the walk, her fear of heights evidently forgotten. Although I knew it was very much my fault that she was so angry, and knew very well that I deserved every speck of that fury, I still had the suicidal urge to make things right with her somehow. Not to mention she had absolutely no idea of where she was going. One though of my usual rabble of customers sent me running after her, calling her name in a poor, misguided attempt to slow her up.

As would be expected from her, it didn't work, and she kept stomping right along, taking random turns and corners at a determined speed, until finally she came out from a stairwell onto a Corner Zone. It was one I knew well: as a child I'd played here with my two brothers, each of us attempting to help the other climb the tree that sat neatly in the middle of the dirt square, until our mother came looking for us an boxed our ears for ignoring her restrictions. "If a Suit had _seen_ you!" she would yell as she dragged us along by our shirts, my sister walking solemnly by her side. Mother's rage was fearsome. Alice, however, did not have the history I did with this spot and didn't know that 1. It was a veritable dead end, and 2. It was strictly off limits for any and everyone. A pitstop for some Tea shipping scarab at some point, probably. She stormed straight past the tree but backtracked at once when she saw the clear cut drop in front of her. "Where do you think you're going?" I asked, coming out into the Corner and half expecting mum to show up towing Cressida and shouting about Suits. Which was ridiculous. They were dead.

She saw me and seemed to decide that she couldn't bear to stand still, moving restlessly around the other side of the tree and saying as she did "Anywhere but here." Definitely still mad. I had half hoped that her little tantrum-walk would've burned some of that off. But apparently not. "There are no-go areas in this town." I told her tiredly, watching as she moved around the back of the tree and spat back "Well I don't believe this is _happening_." I attempted to follow her around the tree. "I mean this- this _place_, you _people_, this is all too _weird_." she cried, moving her arms in an incredibly aggravated, abrupt way. She almost looked like she could explode, splattering the whitewashed walls of the buildings around us with bits of pissed off Alice. "Listen, just calm down. I'm gonna get you home." I promised, and she scoffed. "Oh, really?" She moved back around the other side of the tree, sending me a dirty, disbelieving glare as she went. Ouch. "Yes _really_-" It was a real pain to talk to her when she was like this, all moving about and antsy. "I could- could you just, keep still?"

She had come back around to face me and I could see clearly her shaded eyes, the anger and revulsion written all across her features. "And what's in it for you? Let me guess, you want your usual cut, up front?" she snapped, her eyes narrowed. And we had come full circle. Cripes but the woman could grudge. I personally had already forgiven myself for all that. "I don't blame you for being angry." Okay, well maybe just a little. "I acted impetuously." I admitted, but that wasn't enough for her. "No, selfishly. You acted _selfishly_." That was a little far, I thought. I mean, I hadn't actually accepted any Teas or anything for her, so technically I hadn't done anything wrong. Well. Other than lying. But honestly, who had that ever hurt? Certainly not me.

On the other hand, maybe she had a point.

"Whatever word you wanna... use. Let me make it up to you." I said, finding that I really did want to make ammends for my wrongs. That was certainly new. But it had effectively gotten her attention, and though she clearly still didn't trust me (surprise surprise what else is new?), at least she was listening. Or pretending to. And it was important she listen to me now. Because my world was obviously very different from hers. Her pistol "take action now" sort of attitude would get us nothing but trouble here. "Alice, this is a dangerous place." Memories of Cressida screaming, shrinking away from the hands of a Suit into the corner of our dank little apartment flashed into my mind, chased away by the rancid smell of old rotten meat when I stepped from the cupboard in which I'd hidden days later, out amongst what used to be my family. "Trust me, you're going to need my help." They had, and I'd let them down. I hadn't gotten Cress in with me fast enough. And she went down with the rest of them. This time was going to be different.

This time I was going to save the girl who stood before me, eyes shaded and a flicker of hurt still creasing her brow, her stance defensive and ready to fight, come what hellfire and Suit-storm. This time the Queen wasn't taking her away.

_A/N: So short after so long, I know. But, good point, I passed with perfect 600's on my exams, so YAY! I actually wasn't planning on working on this any tonight, but I saw the Once Upon a Time preview for next week's episode and inspiration hit. Next update will definitely be longer, and a lot less backflashing. I still need to get over a slight hitch in my writing curve, and any suggestions for dissipating that would be greatly appreciated. _

_ Until next time my loves:_

_ |ACP_|


	7. Chapter 7

_A/N: It's ALIIIIVE! Okay, so I know it's been forever, and I apologise most heartfeltedly. I just couldn't find the drive to finish this particular piece for some reason. But the creative juices have been rolling about for some backstory jibber jabber as of late, so look for that in the future. Also, I made a discovery when I was idly staring at my Hatter background on my computer, which will probably appear in this chapter. I'll try to be nonchalant about it, but see if you can spot it next time you watch the show/see a picture. It's really quite something to find it. I_

_ As always, I own pretty much NOTHING which sucks a bunch of lot, but at least I have the liberty to write this drivel down for your perusal. Speaking of which, I'd like to thank all of you (and that is quite the number we're talking about here) that have taken the time to read this bunk and review it. You are all lovely and cherubic and make my ego esplode. _

_Read on, dear lovelies, and please review! _

_As always, _

_|ACP|_

Chapter 7

"You'd _think_ you'd know the way back to your own shop." Alice grumbled for the nintieth time. _It is immoral to leave poor defenceless Oysters on street corners. It is immoral to leave poor defenceless Oysters on street corners._ The refrain kept on in my head as we made our way past the bleak grey buildings and overgrown Corners. "I mean, you do own the place, don't you?" I coughed and walked faster, avoiding her accusatory glare. "Wait, don't you?" she pressed, keeping pace with my hurried gait easily. "Sort of." Her eyes widened and her eyebrows practically disappeared into her hairline, but this was a titchy subject. "Technically it doesn't belong to anyone." I said airily, waving a web out of my face and brushing a fingernail shaped spidabittle of my jacket. "Then how can you have a tea shop there if it isn't yours?" She almost sounded interested, which was a refreshing change from the prattling on about being lost again. I shrugged and pulled a branch from a tree out of the way so she could step past. "A lot of businesses here are like that. As long as the Queen gets a steady flow of customers, squatters are welcomed with open arms. Now if there was a recession for Tea-production, that would be a different story altogether." I explained, and she half-laughed wryly. "That I can relate to." she agreed, sparing me a rare grin.

I reveled in how easy it was to talk to her then. She seemed to have no problems with me for the first time in the whole four hours she'd known me. But she sobered quickly, the unexpected spark in her eyes extinguished and brow furrowing. "With the ring gone, won't that pretty much end your shop?" she asked slowly, and I was careful to keep my eyes forward. "I guess it would." I said nonchalantly, nudging a twig out of my way with the toe of my shoe. "You _guess?_ This is your job, right? How can you just 'guess'?" Her disbelief spoke volumes about her world. Obviously their job market wasn't the land of plenty. I looked her square in the eyes and said seriously, "There are more important things in the world than a job, Alice."

She was quiet then, which only minutes before I would've been thanking every deity with ears for. But just then I had the strange desire for her to ask more about what I'd said, for her to show some sign that she was understanding what I was saying to her. Because I sure as hell didn't.

After a few more wrong turns, which Alice so graciously refrained from commenting about, we finally came to a narrow Walk I recognized, and started down it. "Isn't there some other way out?" Alice asked, though I had a sneaking suspicion she wasn't talking to me. After a few moments I decided I wanted to answer anyway, regardless. "The Looking Glass is the only way to get you back home. And it is here, in the city, but it's the most heavily guarded piece of kit in Wonderland." And for good reason. If an addict or the Resistance got their hands on access to the Oyster World, then the Queen's entire system would fall flat on its face. Well. Flatt_er_. "I've got to find Jack first." she reminded me. I'll admit that rankled more than a little. Had I been talking to the tree trunk when I said how dangerous this place was? Seriously, was her Damsel Jack that much of a catch? "Have you not heard a word I've said?" I asked irritably, turning to face her. "Look, I don't know how he got mixed up in this, but I know that he's not a theif." To my surprise, and more than a little annoyance, she was almost pleading, voice layered in complete sincerity. _He must mean a lot to her, the prig. _The more she went on about him, the more I was assured of his complete and utter pansiness.

"He was trying to surprise me or sweep me off my feet and..." she trailed off and looked at the ring for a moment with an unreadable expression before continuing, "so somehow he got ahold of this ring and it has landed him in a pile of trouble..." She sighed and I looked away, my resentment for this guy building with every word she spoke. By all rights this should've been a sweet story of female empowerment and I should've been jazzed to be a part of it. But really it was just annoying. When she spoke again her voice was filled with an unreasonable regret. "If it wasn't for me, he would be home safe." I looked at her, meeting her eyes and finding them more intense and upset than I'd seen them yet, which was saying something, considering. But there was that catch at the back of my mind, the problem I couldn't reason through with his supposed undying devotion for sponteneity. "How did he get hold of it?" I asked her, keeping a careful eye on her reaction. She fidgeted for a moment, probably uncomfortable with the idea of her precious Nancy Boy being involved in the wicked, wicked workings of Wonderland's inner circles, however unwittingly.

To break up her apparent discomfort, she moved around me, having to get quite close to avoid the terrifying edge of the Walk. In the split second that she was reaching around me to press her hand back to the wall (as if that could save her should she fall), I noticed, too late, that she was now completely dry, and giving off an odd scent of fruit. _Note to self: ask Alice why she smells like food_. "Well I don't know," she said as she went, not meeting my gaze. She strode off, hand moving along on the wall, saying loudly, "The point is, I'm the only one who can get him out of this mess." Even her _logic_ was infuriating! "How did you figure that out?" I asked, exasperated. Even walking as fast as she could in her _completely_ unsensible shoes, it was cake to keep pace with her. "Well, I've got the ring. I can use it to negotiate his release."

That woman would be the death of me. Just those words caused me mental anguish with the amount of frustration I was being caused at her hands. "Ah, no, no." She stopped, turning back to face me with confusion splayed all over her face. "No?"

"No, you can't negotiate with the queen- she's crazy..." I tried, but she was looking away, once more fixed on the distance between us and the ground with her arms splayed out behind her. "You have to cut your losses, get the hell out of here while you still can." I reasoned, even though I had the faintest impression she wasn't going to particularly take to that idea. "No, I can't just abandon Jack. I mean, he's innocent." she insisted, looking at me earnestly, brow creased with her presumed sincerity. "And besides, I like him." Oh as if _that_ excused suicide! "Oh, you like him?" I was half mocking her. Liking someone was not a reason to risk your neck. She was, predictably, incredibly offended. I swear this woman had two speeds with me: offended and pissed. I stared at her for a moment, trying to process the fact that this woman was going to risk everything for a man she "liked". Then I moved past her and walked on.

I got half a step before she felt the need to practically shout, "A lot!" at my back, pulling me up short. Trying to keep my mind in check, I steeled myself for a lot more affronted glares and turned back. "Trust me, I-I know a thing or two about liking people. And in time, after much chocolate and creamcake, "like" turns into "what was his name again". "

"No, not in my world." Brushing it aside and barely looking me in the face? I got the feeling Miss Alice of Legend was telling a fib. "Look, I have a bad record with liking guys-"

"There's a shock." I quipped, moving to walk on. We were nearing the Teahouse and the sooner I got back there the sooner I could go nurse the raging headache this conversation was giving me. "And _this_ is the first one that has meant _anything_." she called out indignantly, storming after me, but she was pulled up short by a treefern hanging particularly low off the building. She skirted it carefully, saying half to herself, "And there is no way I'm going to give him up now."

For the record, I did have a response. It was witty and clever and scathing, I assure you. But I was stopped by the sight of my Tea Shoppe standing just beyond the old red tele box. I held my hand out to silence her. There were Suits standing on _my_ porch, probably having gone through _my_ stuff, and they were in the process of interviewing _my _Dormouse. "Stay close." I muttered, moving off carefully to the land bridge and pressing myself against the tele box. One of my Tea pushers, a regular by the name of Pinnsi, was being shaken around roughly by the front of his suit, and the one doing the shaking was no Suit himself. Whatever it was, the voice was metallic and oddly familiar, but definitely not human. "Hey, _hey_, did you see her?" it demanded of Pinnsi, but when he could only stare at the atrocity aghast, he got thrown bowler-hat first off the porch, clearing the edge of the bridge and tumbling down to the levels below, while the machine thing with the rabbit's head said spitefully, "Get outta here."

It went to interview Dormie, who refused to talk with it but shrunk away before it could throw him over as well. The machine walked away and my eyes and attention were drawn to the club Suit that was interviewing a very compliant-looking Ratty. The Suit wasn't as loud as the machine was, so I didn't catch every word said, but I got enough to know that Ratty was in the midst of selling Alice out. I'd always known I shouldn't trust men like Ratty. People don't smell that bad if they're trustworthy. "You work with rats long enough and you turn into one." I remarked to Alice bitterly, but she was still stuck on the rabbit machine. "What is that?"

"Nothing I've ever seen before." It was true. I'd seen a lot of crazy stuff in Wonderland, but this particular character took the cake. I mean, I was pretty sure I'd seen the _head_ before, but that's just because there was one like it in every decor store around for awhile. Except those were cookie jars, and no right-minded person would make a cookie jar a head of a robot. That would just be stupid.

Still, for a robot it dressed remarkably well. The head was obviously machine, but the rest seemed to move like a human's body. It was even shaped like someone I'd known-well, okay, someone I'd fought once about a year back. Poor old March Hare, from the infamous crime family the Chess'. He'd happened upon me in a Shoppe fight over a bottle of Ecstacy, back when the thing was rare. Caught the bastard in the face with my right hook. Guy's head never stood a chance, and yet... The robot's sensors must have picked us up, because the thing's head swiveled around. "Wait... no, it can't be..." Even the air about it held a certain Chess family jackassery.

But there was no time to linger on the similarities between the ridiculous cookie-jar robot and the dead Hare. The thing had obviously spotted us and had begun walking down my front porch steps with deliberate intensity. The Suit noticed and looked over at the robot, addressing it as "sir". I pushed Alice back behind me a bit more and she got the message to move, going quickly back the way we came. I followed her after a moment's more lingering to try and puzzle through the possibilities of March Hare having a cookie jar head.

Alice half-ran through streets she didn't know, and I was too distracted to correct her path or even suggest a better one, so I let her lead for a time. She was doing pretty well: we hadn't hit a dead end or anything, but we were in an area of the city that I didn't know, one overgrown with tall stalks of lavender and various forms of ivy creeping up the plain walls of the empty building she worked her way towards. It looked like a raided home. All the windows were empty of glass, the furthest one on the upper floor even open some. I glanced behind us periodically as we went, just to make sure the rabbit robot and his Suitly friends weren't giving _too_ fair a chase.

But some days, you just have zero luck.

The second time I looked back, I was drawn to a stop in surprise. Alice, who had gone a ways before noticing my halt, came back to my side just as the fear and adrenaline really started to kick in. "We should run." I suggested as calmly as I could, and then turned on my heel and moved forward as fast as I could with Alice in front of me. I could hear the machinery working to move the robotic rabbit along far more clearly than I should've, but they were directly on our trails. They'd caught up to us, and I didn't want to know what would happen if they actually managed to catch us. Yelling for Alice to run, we shot off at a sprint, ripping through the tall weeds in what was feeling suspiciously like a futile attempt to save our skins.


	8. Chapter 8

_A/N: So in an attempt to make up for over a month on NADAZILCH you will be getting as much spamming of updates on this as I can possibly give. _

_ I do not own Hatter (sadly sadly sadly), or Alice, but a couple people here and there are mine, as well as some of the fleshier backstory. _

_ Reviews make me happier than Sherlock with a case, and all of you lovelies that take the time for Hatter hold a special place of honour in my heart, especially you dears that still read this after my disappearing acts. I'm almost done with school, so as long as they keep the Primeval episodes up, I'll be able to get myself to work on this. _

_ As alway my loves, _

_ |ACP|_

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><p>Chapter 8:<p>

Alice is a slow runner. I'd noticed it awhile back, that it wasn't just her silly, clunky heels that were slowing her down: she was naturally a lagging type. And she did this thing when she went fast, a sort of flailing with her right arm, which she probably thought steadied her but really just slowed her down more. By the time we got near the dead end corner of the building with nothing but a couple doors set into the gritty white plaster, I had zoomed ahead of her, shouting for her to move quicker. I could hear her panting behind me, struggling to keep a steady pace because at that moment who knew how long we would be running before we got to stop? But there was the second door, closing in fast, which had an archway and a ramp leading up to it. I swung into it with a stumbling turn, calling for Alice to follow.

But rather than get us into the relative safety of a building, it turned out just to be a weather-protected and vine-overgrown porch, which ran all the way to the back of the house in a gradual decline. In an attempt to figure out an actual gameplan, a legitimate escape route if it was even still needed, I paused and waited for Alice to catch up. She was going hard, but it still took a second for her to half-crash into me. I grabbed her arms, keeping her still and thinking fast. Behind us sat a Dealer Port, an old meet-up place for Tea pushers and their suppliers. Straining my ears for the sound of robotic movement, the single second ticked by full of unlikely escape plans. But when the noise of the pressure being released and then sucked back into the mechanic parts of the robot's joints finally reached me, letting me know beyond a shadow of a doubt that we were indeed being followed, all of the plans but one shot out the window. "That wway." I directed Alice, turning her and letting her set off ahead for a moment, helping her along when she almost stumbled mid-stride with a gentle push to the back.

Fast as we were going, we came up on the dock fairly quickly, the ladder turning into a ramp halfway down the short distance to the chained down dock. I went ahead, leading the way down the ramp saying, "Down here, in the smuggling boat." But there I was, halfway in before she'd even gotten to the dock fully. "Quickly!" Working as fast as I could, I flung the little hatch for the motor pull open, fumbling with the drawstring and yanking it out as the posse of machine and Suits trooped out of the porchway, taking their own sweet time and still somehow gaining on us. After one fantastically unsuccessful pull on the drawstring, I shook out my hands, muttering, "Hang on, there's a knack to this." Alice was working as fast as she could to undo the sailor's knot that tied the wooden speedboat to the dock, and was having infinite more success than I was. One more desperate tug on the string and I concluded, "Which apparently I've never learned." I closed the hatch and scrambled over the various things in the boat towards the steering wheel, where a key sat waiting in the ignition. Stupid pushers forgot to take their keys, and it was all the better for us.

Alice had run into a problem with the knot and was fumbling hurriedly with it as I gave a hard turn to the key. The engine started to turn over but sputtered to a stop. "Come on!" I shouted at it, giving the key another angry turn. The Suits were almost upon us now.

And then the engine turned and the rope was free, and with Alice settling into the seat beside mine, I drove us the hell away from there as fast as the boat would allow, leaving the Suits and the cookie-jar robot behind on the shore. No doubt they'd be calling for higher transport to follow us, so the faster we got to the other side of the Pool of Tears, the faster we'd be safe. Find cover and hide out for a bit.

The Pool was a beautiful thing. It wasn't the cleanest, because Wonderlanders had been dumping their various waste things in there for ages, but they also cleaned their clothes in the water, giving it the almost eternal scent of laundry soap. I hadn't been this close to the water in ages, though back when I was young and the world still seemed remotely fair, we used to come swim in the waters and play down by the docks, running through tall stocks of lavender and posies, and falling into tall grasses to hide from our frantic parents, my brothers and I snickering as my mother and father unfailingly had a panic attack. All the various soaps being used in the water for so long had given it a distinct scent, which usually helped to mask the dirtier parts of the city's smell, which were usually located, ironically enough, right on the water's edge. And there it was. The reason Alice smelled of fruit. It was the water, soaked into her clothes.

Huh.

It wasn't until we were halfway across the Pool that she got it into her head to start talking again. "Where is the Casino?" she asked, and to my surprise, rather than any annoyance I felt only resignation. _It's Namby Pamby Jack again. _"I've already told you, you can't negotiate with the Queen." And it felt like the millionth time. Still, she had to get home, and the only way to ensure she did that safely was if she had her precious darling Jack with her. So if that was what it took... "But. The White Rabbit is a whole other kettle of onions. Perhaps they'll do a deal." I tried not to look at her so she wouldn't see that the hope I was giving her was false. But the next words to come out were the first that were unplanned, uncoordinated in my mind. "It's a long shot, but it's the only one we've got." I said, trying to be as cavalier and nonchalant as I could. And the moment that they left my mouth, I wanted to reel them in. Maybe she wouldn't notice my slip, maybe she'd ignore it, or put it down to symantics. But if she had done, she wouldn't be Alice. And if she weren't Alice, I wouldn't have said it. "We?" she asked, eyebrows slightly raised but eyes soft. Not entirely too discouraging. I glanced at her from the corner of my eyes, to steel myself, give myself the courage I needed to say what needed to be said. "I don't know if you noticed, Alice, but my shop was ransacked. I'm a target, not only for the Suits but for the Resistance as well and there's only so many places in Wonderland I can hide." And I'd used them all at least once. Or I thought I had. "The way I see it, I've only got one option."

I could feel her stare finally leave my face, and the tension of the moment hitched up a notch. "Which is?" she asked stiffly. Almost before I could think if it was what I wanted, I said "Go back with you." I could ensure she was safe if I went with her, maybe get her out if her damsel in distress boyfriend got lost in transit and she decided to commit what was tantamount to suicide and confront the Queen. And if I went back with her, if stupid Jack got lost... well she would need someone there for her who would understand what she had gone through. My mind went to the ring sitting on my left hand ring finger, the one that had once been given to me by a lovely young girl who had shared a dream with me, shared what I had thought had been a great love, and then had been lost. And even though that wasn't quite the same, even though Erise had run off, away from me and the secret of my family that I hadn't dared share with her until _after_ our shotgun ceremony, I knew what it was like to lose people you loved, or thought you did. Better than anybody else in Wonderland, I knew. I could be there for her, and maybe someday she'd start to trust me.

The seconds ticked by and Alice didn't respond, didn't take her eyes away from the distant shore. A knot began to form in my stomach. "To your world." I elaborated, as though she hadn't understood. I glanced at her, the fear of her scorn for my desire to accompany her almost plain in my eyes as the pain of the memories Erise and my family had left me. She was looking at me when I dared the glance, and in that moment when our eyes connected I could see that she was only confused, and maybe a little skeptical. There was no rejection or derision in those clear blue green eyes. Yet after only a moment I had to look away. That wasn't an expression I was used to seeing on a woman who wasn't so over her head with Tea that she could barely wobble upright.

Before she could answer and before I could chicken out and take it all back, laugh it off as a joke and give up completely on ever winning her over even a little, the sounds of a scarab closeby drew our attention. It was behind us, but not far enough so that I could afford to keep the motor relaxed. "Before we do anything, we need to shake off Royal Flush." I commented, shaking off the settling tension and throwing the boat into high gear, allowing it to zip away with its silent passengers towards the forested shoreline and the mountains.

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><p><em>AN: There it is! Tada! As I said a few chapters back, I was staring at my Alice background a long while ago and I noticed he was wearing what looked suspiciously like a wedding band on his ring finger and suddenly his backstory just pretty much exploded with ideas. There will be a lot more of it when it comes time for the torture scene, fret not, and I promise that you'll get to see more of Cressida and Erise in it, as well as a little bit of Little Hatter. The next chapter is already deep in the works, so expect that sometime very soon. Thank you so much for taking the time to read this, it really makes it worth the hours of stop-go recording to read your constructive comments. Also if anyone can figure out how I can make this thing get some indents before the paragraphs, I'd greatly appreciate it._

_Always lovelies, _

_|ACP|_


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